Director: Cody Calahan

Writer: Peter Genoway (Screenplay)

Starring: RJ Mitte, Peter Outerbridge, Ari Millen, Nicholas Campbell, Martin Roach, David Ferry, Amos Crawley

Plot: During a raging snowstorm, a drifter returns home to the blue-collar bar located in the remote Canadian town where he was born. When he offers to settle an old debt with a grizzled bartender by telling him a story, the night’s events quickly spin into a dark tale of mistaken identities, double-crosses and shocking violence.

Runtime: 1 Hour 30 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: The Oak Room starts when Steve (Mitte) returns home during a snowstorm, returning to the local bar to repay a debt to Paul (Outerbridge), offering him a story as to why he has returned.

As Steve recounts his story, he tells a tale of the time he was the bartender, meeting a stranger in the bar late one night, with their own story.

Thoughts on The Oak Room

Characters & Performances – Steve is the drifter who has returned home to pay a debt, he has a story to what has kept him away and he wants to tell it, which will give us the reasons to why he took so long to return. He is filled with a grief of not being home for his father’s funeral, a grief he would like to shake. RJ Mitte does struggle to become the narrator we need, each scene leaves him struggling to make the impact required. Paul is the bartender being told the story, he wants the debt repaid and isn’t prepared to listen to the stories, he just wants the point made. Must like everyone else in this film, we do find ourselves being left in the middle of jumping between characters, where the actors just don’t get to make the impact they would like to in the film.

Story – The story here follows a drifter that returns to a local bar where he looks to pay of a debt, only for him to tell a story that starts tame before turning much darker than you could imagine. This is a story that is looking to make an edgy tale, only it takes a long time to get going and by the time we get to the darker side of the tale. Once we get the shocking side of things, it does feel flat and doesn’t seem to hit the chords it wants to and ends up leaving us with more questions than answers.

Themes – The Oak Room is a mystery wrapped in a thriller that doesn’t get into the intense questions until much later into the film, leaving the tension not being built up for the shocking reveal. The single locations of the two bars does help keep things contained, but never gets used well enough for the truth.

The Oak Room will available on Digital Download from 26th April

Director: Donato Carrisi

Writer: Donato Carrisi (Screenplay) Donato Carrisi (Novel)

Starring: Dustin Hoffman, Toni Servillo, Valentina Belle, Vinicio Marchoini, Katsiaryne Shulha

Plot: Samantha, a young kidnapped girl, resurfaces in shock after being imprisoned and hospitalized.

Runtime: 2 Hours 10 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Into the Labyrinth starts as Dottor Green (Hoffman) is interviewing escaped victims Samantha Andretti (Belle) about her time locked away, 15 years trapped in a labyrinth, which she learnt to navigate before her escape, she is recounting her story to Dottor. Bruno Genko (Servillo) is leading his own investigation into the string of missing children, which will lead him down a trail of bunnies.

Bruno will start to look into the one other person known to have escaped a labyrinth, Robin Basso, believing he could be the one behind a new string of murders, or it is just a bigger group behind the labyrinth.

Thoughts on Into the Labyrinth

Characters & Performances – Dottor Green is the doctor treating Samantha after her ordeal, he is trying to learn about what happened, helping her regain her memories from her time in there. He remains clam with his search for the truth. Dustin Hoffman does make an impact in his scenes, despite him only having limited location throughout the film. Bruno Genko is investigating the string of disappearances, he believes he knows who is behind the crimes and finds himself getting caught up in the bigger underworld of what is going on. Toni Servillo does most of the leg work when it comes to the acting, needing to get involved in the bigger action sequences and handling the serious side of the crimes. Samantha Andretti is the victim that has been held by the mysterious psychopath in a labyrinth, she was made to complete tasks to stay alive and now she is trying to piece together her memories of her time inside the labyrinth. Valentina Belle does well mixing her narration with her horror moments in the film. The rest of the supporting cast are entertaining to watch and get their scenes to make an impact with most involved Bruno and his investigation.

Story – The story here follows a doctor trying to treat a victim of a psychopaths twisted games, while a detective is looking for answers about who is behind them, with the two stories going on parallel to each other. This is a creepy story with how the two stories play out, on one hand we learn the disturbing actions of what has been happening over the years, with the different games, this could have gone even deeper, when we learn the length of time spent inside the labyrinth. The investigation is somehow even darker, with disturbing interactions with people that could lead to even more mysteries about what is going on. The two stories work well together giving us a very dark story to follow along with, but it does seem to go on a little longer than needed.

Themes – Into the Labyrinth is a disturbing crime mystery horror thriller that will introduce the twisted games being played, it will lead you with plenty of disturbing moments around what the victims must go through and with how the investigation isn’t a smooth as the detective would imagine. The use of the rabbit figure only adds to the disturbing nature going on in the film.